I met acclaimed author Jeff Lane through another Amused Now Featured Artist, filmmaker Aaron Thomas. Jeff and Aaron are working on a film project based on Jeff’s best-selling book This Paper World, the story of how 18-year-old Jim Hunt confronts his destiny. When I asked how he and Aaron met, Jeff explained that Aaron reached out to him after hearing This Paper World podcast as a serialized audiobook. Aaron was listening to the book and fell in love with it. The two started communicating via email. When Jeff noticed that Aaron was a filmmaker, he checked out Aaron’s work. “It just kindda blew my mind. Here’s this very talented filmmaker who likes my art.” The two stayed in touch and, eventually, Aaron said, “I want to do something with this book” and they’ve been working on the film ever since. I’ve seen a few of the trailers and the finished film should be fabulous. Jeff studied Music and Video Business at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. He worked 2nd shift in a bank call center. Jeff claims he wrote This Paper World to stave off boredom while working at the bank, so I asked him, “When did you decide to become an author?” At the time, Jeff worked at night and his wife worked during the day, so one day he went into his home office, opened a blank document and started writing. Initially, Jeff didn’t really plan to write a novel. He didn’t have the entire story sketched out in his head. Jeff knew that he wanted to write a classic hero’s tale. The story grew organically as he started writing about Jim. What was Jeff’s inspiration? You’ll see Star Wars and Stephen King’s Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger references with a...

The writing process is the most personal thing I go through in my life. I bare my soul much more than I want to. Then I ask myself, who wants to read something if it is not from the heart? The most personal piece of writing I ever tackled was a screenplay I wrote in college about my first experience with bipolar disorder. The wound was so raw, I had to fictionalize it. I told the true story, but not in the first person. It was too painful to admit that it had happened to me, because there was a great deal of misunderstanding about mental illness at the time. Because I didn’t admit the screenplay was a true story about my life, it seemed so bizarre to others. People didn’t believe it. They found the story implausible. “That could never happen!” was the criticism I received from my classmates. I rewrote the story on a blog, and it has been accepted by one publisher. All I have left is some final editing and to make an initial investment in marketing, and I will have completed the book. Yet, I hesitate. What holds me back? I am open online about my disorder. I publish a daily paper on mental health and mental illness. What is keeping me from moving forward? ~ The angst of writing. I am not ready to relive those early experiences. That is the dilemma of being a writer. I know that I cannot back away from the pain in my story, and you cannot let yourself or your characters off the hook either. Face the emotional pain and triumph. You must face the pain and write it down. Write down your feelings. Be honest and true to your story. Anything else cheats your readers of...

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” ― William Wordsworth Last Saturday, I had the distinct privilege of interviewing author, publisher, poet and educator K.L. Belvin for Amused Now. To say it was a delightful experience is an understatement; life-changing is closer to the truth. K.L. is genuine, full of warmth and love for God and mankind. He shoots straight from the hip, but more to the point, straight from the heart. His heart has been through it all. At the advice of his wife, he published his first book of poetry, A Man in Transition. The poems describe his journey from From Gigilo to Jesus, the title of his second book. This amazing story is beautiful, touching and heart-wrenchingly honest. He was “everything that is negative about a man.” He had slept with over 300 women, had multiple babies with multiple women, cheated on this girlfriend (now wife) three times and devastated many people, even his own soul. Everything changed when he rediscovered his faith and became a new man. He read me a poem about how much he loves his wife Tiffany and considers her a blessing from God. It was so moving. Every woman wants her husband to feel the way he feels and speak the way he speaks about her. She is his anchor and adviser. She is his “perfect woman, if only in his mind,” as the poem states. He leads with his heart. It may not be pure, but it is filled with faith and determination. What is he determined about? He is determined to keep the genre of poetry alive and well. He is determined to help the youth of this country have values and know their worth. He is determined to live well and from...